DeSoto students show off robots at Medtronic

Brandon Dill/Special to The Commercial Appeal
Horn Lake High School student Chris Sevigney, 18, (crouched, center) shows off the design of his school’s FIRST! Robotics robot, “Toro,” to Medtronic employees including Mark Dace (left) and Jaishankar Balasubramanian (right) during a recap and appreciation day at Medtronic headquarters. FIRST! Robotics is a national progam started by Medtronic five years ago to provide financial assistance as well as professional mentors to local high school teams competing in robotics competitions. This year, Medtronic provided eight mentors to four area high schools, Craigmont, Hamilton, Horn Lake and St. Mary’s Episcopal. The student teams brought their completed robots back to Medtronic after competitions around the country to share their experiences with their mentors and demonstrate their robots’ capabilities to other Medtronic employees. (Brandon Dill/Special to The Commercial Appeal)

Horn Lake High School students show off the frisbee-firing power of their FIRST! Robotics robot, “Toro” during a recap and appreciation day at Medtronic headquarters.

Thanks to a little good, old-fashioned peer pressure, Horn Lake seniors Pamela Ponce and Chris Sevigney did something not many high schoolers tend to do — they built a Frisbee-throwing robot.

Having just completed their third and final year of the FIRST! Robotics competition, they have already begun herding younger students into the fold before getting ready to head to Ole Miss in the fall to study engineering.

Both students, along with their teammates, coach, and groups from three other local schools spent Wednesday afternoon at Medtronic, a medical technology company and their sponsor, to show off the fruits of six weeks and 120 hours of work.

The robots swirled around the floor, flinging Frisbees that skimmed the ceiling, hit the wall and occasionally ricocheted into a group of gleeful Medtronic employees like T-shirts out of a cannon.

"They love to show off their stuff," said Medtronic senior communications director Eric Epperson. "And this is their way of coming in and thanking us."

Medtronic has been sponsoring teams in the national robot-building competition since 2008, when the company founded a program at Hamilton High. This year, Medtronic also sponsored teams at Craigmont and St. Mary's Episcopal, and about 20 employees volunteered their time as mentors.

Each year, students from around the country travel to different regional competitions, where their robots are expected to perform a series of tasks and tricks, like hitting a target with Frisbees. This year's Horn Lake team advanced to the semifinals in the St. Louis regional competition in March, and won the Judges's Award for design and presentation.

"I love building," said Devario Hill, a 2012 Hamilton graduate. Hill loved building robots so much while he was in high school, he decided to come back this year to help the students build their machine, Robo Wildcat.

Hill offered a few pointers to the students, who fiddled with Robo Wildcat's controls until it was zipping around the room with the others.

Jeff Johnson, a Medtronic employee and mentor to the Hamilton team, said the experience is vital for students because it opens their eyes to possible careers in science and technology fields.

Hamilton's coach, Roy Shears, said his team has less money and fewer resources than some of the others who compete, but that team members don't let it prevent them from competing.

"The experience is all about learning, not really about winning," said Shears. "It gives them a taste of the real world, not just the classroom."